Stopwatch.GetTimestamp Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Diagnostics

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Runtime.dll

Source:

Stopwatch.cs

Gets the current number of ticks in the timer mechanism.

C#

public static long GetTimestamp();

Returns

Int64

A long integer representing the tick counter value of the underlying timer mechanism.

Examples

The following example illustrates the use of the GetTimestamp method to update a performance counter.

C#

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public class App
{
    public static void Main()
    {	
        CollectSamples();
    }

    public static void CollectSamples()
    {
        const String categoryName = "ElapsedTimeSampleCategory";
        const String counterName = "ElapsedTimeSample";

        // If the category does not exist, create the category and exit.
        // Performance counters should not be created and immediately used.
        // There is a latency time to enable the counters, they should be created
        // prior to executing the application that uses the counters.
        // Execute this sample a second time to use the category.
        if ( !PerformanceCounterCategory.Exists(categoryName) )
        {

            CounterCreationDataCollection CCDC = new CounterCreationDataCollection();

            // Add the counter.
            CounterCreationData ETimeData = new CounterCreationData();
            ETimeData.CounterType = PerformanceCounterType.ElapsedTime;
            ETimeData.CounterName = counterName;
            CCDC.Add(ETimeData);	
        
            // Create the category.
            PerformanceCounterCategory.Create(categoryName,
                    "Demonstrates ElapsedTime performance counter usage.",
                PerformanceCounterCategoryType.SingleInstance, CCDC);
            // Return, rerun the application to make use of the new counters.
            return;
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Category exists - {0}", categoryName);
        }

        // Create the performance counter.
        PerformanceCounter PC = new PerformanceCounter(categoryName,
                                                       counterName,
                                                       false);
        // Initialize the counter.
        PC.RawValue = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();

        DateTime Start = DateTime.Now;

        // Loop for the samples.
        for (int j = 0; j < 100; j++)
        {
            // Output the values.
            if ((j % 10) == 9)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("NextValue() = " + PC.NextValue().ToString());
                Console.WriteLine("Actual elapsed time = " + DateTime.Now.Subtract(Start).ToString());
                OutputSample(PC.NextSample());
            }

            // Reset the counter on every 20th iteration.
            if (j % 20 == 0)
            {
                PC.RawValue = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();
                Start = DateTime.Now;
            }
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(50);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Elapsed time = " + DateTime.Now.Subtract(Start).ToString());
    }

    private static void OutputSample(CounterSample s)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\r\n+++++++++++");
        Console.WriteLine("Sample values - \r\n");
        Console.WriteLine("   BaseValue        = " + s.BaseValue);
        Console.WriteLine("   CounterFrequency = " + s.CounterFrequency);
        Console.WriteLine("   CounterTimeStamp = " + s.CounterTimeStamp);
        Console.WriteLine("   CounterType      = " + s.CounterType);
        Console.WriteLine("   RawValue         = " + s.RawValue);
        Console.WriteLine("   SystemFrequency  = " + s.SystemFrequency);
        Console.WriteLine("   TimeStamp        = " + s.TimeStamp);
        Console.WriteLine("   TimeStamp100nSec = " + s.TimeStamp100nSec);
        Console.WriteLine("++++++++++++++++++++++");
    }
}

Remarks

If the Stopwatch class uses a high-resolution performance counter, GetTimestamp returns the current value of that counter. If the Stopwatch class uses the system timer, GetTimestamp returns the current DateTime.Ticks property of the DateTime.UtcNow instance.

Applies to

See also

• IsHighResolution